The husband of a Woodruff woman who was struck and killed while riding a bike south of town Monday night has been charged with neglecting the couple's eight young children after investigators learned the children were home alone all week.

By Drew BrooksDrew.brooks@shj.com

The husband of a Woodruff woman who was struck and killed while riding a bike south of town Monday night has been charged with neglecting the couple's eight young children after investigators learned the children were home alone all week.Rajy Jacob Mathews, 47, was charged with eight counts of child neglect, according to Lt. Tony Ivey of the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office.Ivey said investigators learned Friday that the children of Ruth Dalila Mathews might have been left unsupervised at the home at 540 Brown Kennedy Road.Ruth Mathews, 37, died Monday when her bicycle collided with a pickup truck on Highway 221 near Miller Road, according to officials. Her identity was released late Friday by Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger.Clevenger was delayed in releasing Ruth Mathews' identity because officials could not originally find next of kin.The night of her death, officers said no one would come to the door of the family home, according to an incident report. Officials then contacted Rajy Mathews, who was working in Texas at the time, the report states.Mathews told investigators that the children were not with him and said it would be a few days before he could return to South Carolina, according to the report. He told investigators that the children were with a pastor, but refused to provide any other information.Investigating the children's whereabouts, deputies again visited the home on Friday after a neighbor reported seeing children look out the windows, the report states.According to an incident report, two officers knocked on the door and could hear children, but no one would come to the door.Finally, an officer was able to talk to one child at a window. The child refused to open the door until she was told that her mother was dead, according to the report. At that time, the children removed furniture that was barricading the door and allowed the officers to enter, the report states.Inside, investigators said the home was "extremely hot."According to the report, there were 8 children in the residence and the refrigerator was not working. There were only a couple of canned goods in the home, and there were no adults in the residence, the report states.Ivey said Rajy Mathews, whose arrest records show an address of 5499 Braes Valley Drive Apt. 513 in Houston, did not return to South Carolina until Friday evening, at which time he was arrested and booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center.The Texas address was where Mathews was staying until his return to South Carolina on Friday, Ivey said.Bail was set at $160,000, according to online jail records.The children, who are not being identified, were placed in emergency protective custody. According to an incident report, their ages range from 16- to 1-years-old.The crash that killed Ruth Mathews remains under investigation, according to officials.Earlier this week, the S.C. Highway Patrol said Stephen Tinker, 26, of Inman, was driving a 2007 Dodge pickup truck when he and Mathews collided just after 10 p.m. on Aug. 19.